Do you include question marks in article title citations? (2024)

FAQs

Can the title of an article have a question mark? ›

Yes. If an article or other source has punctuation included in its name, that will carry over into your citation. You'll also keep the punctuation if you're mentioning the title narratively.

What Do I Do When the Title Ends in a Question Mark or Exclamation Point? Authors and readers often ask how to deal with references that already contain punctuation—for example, a title that ends in a question mark or exclamation point. The short answer is, keep the original punctuation and do not add any extra.

The MLA format template calls for a period after the title of a source, but if the title of a source ends in a question mark or exclamation point, do not include a period. Question marks or exclamation points, as stronger marks, always supersede a period: Albee, Edward. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Punctuation marks such as periods, commas, and semicolons should appear after the parenthetical citation. Question marks and exclamation points should appear within the quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted passage, but after the parenthetical citation if they are a part of your text.

Any punctuation or italics which are required for independent reasons should be used normally; this includes a question mark at the end if the title is a question.

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no." It is named after Ian Betteridge, a British technology journalist who wrote about it in 2009, although the principle is much older.

Chicago (notes-bibliography format) [14.96]

Footnotes: Keep the comma after a title ending in a question or exclamation mark. Bibliography: Omit the period after a title ending in a question or exclamation mark.

Use double quotation marks around the title of an article or chapter, and italicize the title of a periodical, book, brochure, or report.

Use quotation marks around the titles of short poems, song titles, short stories, magazine or newspaper articles, essays, speeches, chapter titles, short films, and episodes of television or radio shows.

Can a question be the title of a research paper? ›

In academic papers, rarely is a title followed by an exclamation mark. However, a title or subtitle can be in the form of a question.

Ask a Question - To write essay title that is strong, consider asking a question. But, use it with caution because posing a question will make your tone less formal. As long as the question is suitably phrased to meet the subject of your essay, feel free to employ it.

Authors and readers often ask how to deal with references that already contain punctuation—for example, a title that ends in a question mark or exclamation point. The short answer is, keep the original punctuation and do not add any extra.

In situations where an article ends in a question mark, the questions mark should take the place of the period that would normally appear at the end of the article's title. For more information, check out the APA style blog.

For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list. APA in-text citation style uses the author's last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14).

Yes, it can be a question. However, it highly depend on what kind of paper you are writing. If it is an article or essay, then it is okay to use a question in titles.

Titles of full works like books or newspapers should be italicized. Titles of short works like poems, articles, short stories, or chapters should be put in quotation marks. Titles of books that form a larger body of work may be put in quotation marks if the name of the book series is italicized.

Ask a Question - To write essay title that is strong, consider asking a question. But, use it with caution because posing a question will make your tone less formal. As long as the question is suitably phrased to meet the subject of your essay, feel free to employ it.